Carnatic Wars

The Carnatic Wars were a series of wars fought from 1746 to 1763 between the British and French East India Companies during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. The British victory over the Mughal Empire at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and over the French at Pondicherry in 1761 led to the rise of the British East India Company, the British conquest of India, and an era of Company rule in India.

History
European companies setting up among "savage" peoples took it for granted that they had a policing role, if only to safeguard their own activities. The British East India Company had been chartered by the British Crown, and essentially acted on its behalf. It even had its own army.

The Company's competition with its French rivals soon spilled over into fighting, before getting caught up in the wider conflict of the Seven Years' War. Robert Clive, later the Governor of Bengal, commanded the British force. His troops smashed the army of the Compagnie des Indes and its local ally, the Nawab of Bengal, at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Britain then commenced the Carnatic War in the southeast, capturing the French headquarters at Pondicherry (modern Puducherry) in 1761. With the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the Company tightened its hold over eastern India, shattering what remained of Mughal power. The Mughal emperor Shah Allam II was still nominally in charge, but the Company became his official agents in the region.